The Vegas Goodbye
by Tim Carrier
Summary: A Pulp detective story, which sees hardboiled P.I. Jay Barnes dragged into a chase across the Mojave in a case full of danger and intrigue by a mysterious dame looking for a special package.
1. Chapter 1

I was considering shutting up shop and dragging myself over to The Atomic Wrangler when she knocked on my office door. I thought about telling her to come back but before I got a chance the door swung open to reveal a woman in a black dress with legs straight from a pre war showgirl poster and a face that would make even the most feral of ghouls stop for a second look. She sashayed over to my desk and extended dainty hand.

"Mr Barnes, I'm Jessica Taylor and I'd like to hire your services."

She was all business I thought as I stood and shook her hand.

"Please take a seat. What do you need with a private investigator?" I asked returning to my seat as she sat down opposite me.

"I need to recover an item and require assistance. I understand you're quite capable when it comes to locating things."

"I usually do people, bad debtors and that kind of thing. What do you want me to find?"

"A Package, or rather the contents of a Package."

The dame was talking in circles I thought as I pulled a cigarette out and offered her one which she accepted.

"So what's in the package?" I asked after a long drag.

"Can't tell you." She said simply.

"So what, am I meant to speak to the kid out by the 188 or do you know a mind reader closer to home?"

"They told me you have a mouth on you."

"Yeah? Well they told you right Miss. I only take serious cases, now get outta here before I throw ya out on that pretty face."

"I'll take that as compliment Mr Barnes, but I assure you I'm very serious." She reached into a bag she had carried in with her and produced a fistful of caps, then two more. "250 caps, we could call that a down payment for your services, with more when you recover the suitcase."

I tore my eyes away from the small pile of caps sitting on my desk and back to her gaze. "Ok I'll listen to what you have to say but only because you're easy on the eyes and got the caps."

She smirked at the remark, straightened up in her chair and flicked a stray lock of raven black hair behind her ear.

"First off I wasn't completely honest with you earlier, my name is Doctor Jessica Taylor and I'm from the University of Shady Sands where I teach and study Archaeology."

"So you're not a real Doctor then?"

"If by 'real', you mean 'medical' then no, but I have received a doctorate. My work is mainly to do with discovery and reclamation of pre war artefacts. It is this work which brought me to this delightful little hole in the ground."

"Unfortunately we can't all be play pretend Doctor in Shady Sands."

"It's shame because if someone was playing doctor here maybe I wouldn't have had to hitch a ride with a goddamned caravan but it fell to me to preserve our history. I received word that an ancient relic from the old world was here in New Vegas. This item is so powerful and important to human civilisation that it cannot be allowed to fall into anyone's hands but the NCR's."

I snorted at that last part to show my derision but figured now wasn't a good time to discuss the moral authority of the NCR. "If you're NCR why not just get some soldiers to help ya out? Why me?"

"The republic is still primarily a military organisation, my work is of no interest to men like Kimball so I find myself depending on donations from benefactors and having to hire contractors like you."

I nodded and took another drag on my cigarette.

"So can you help?"

I glanced at the pile of caps on the table.

"I'll get my coat."

#

All she knew about the package was it was going to be in some kind of shady exchange taking place somewhere in Vegas. I liked that part kept everything nice and local with no need to be running around wastes. What I didn't like was the timeframe, the deal for the suitcase was going down within two days. That meant I had to get names for the buyer and seller as well as the location of the deal. I needed to visit with a few contacts I had but Jessica didn't want to let me out of her sight she said she needed to be there to confirm the package was genuine. I protested but in the end the one holding the caps is the boss.

The first stop was the Atomic Wrangler which was a short trip from my office in Freeside, as usual the thugs were lurking on the street corners but they knew that approaching me would buy them a fresh .44 wound. Jessica did attract a few menacing whistles as we walked through the streets while the setting sun cast long shadows across Freeside.

"Watch yourself in here they see strangers as marks."

"I'm sure it's not that bad, Mr Barnes. What's the worst that could happen?"

"You may hear some naughty words." I said with a shrug, she couldn't say I didn't warn her.

The Wrangler is a drive bar in a dive part of Vegas which made it my kind of place. When I first arrived in Freeside I had stayed in the flop house above the small casino, it was there that I learned a secret about James Garrett he would rather I didn't know. Given his position as a bar tender and the skeletons in his closet he was always a good place to start for information. I walked up to the bar with Jessica in tow and ordered two drinks from Francine Garrett, James' sister.

"Where's James? I need to speak with him."

"He's sleeping." She said sternly. Francine knew I had something on her brother but had no idea what. If she ever did find out the shame would be liable to kill James.

"So go wake him. Trust me he'll want to see me." I said as I took a sip of the whiskey she had poured. Francine glared at me before leaving the bar to rouse her brother. I sat back and looked around the bar while Jessica eyed her glass suspiciously.

"Does this glass look clean?"

"As clean as it's gonna get." I said offhandedly. I wasn't listening because a group three of men in the corner had got my attention. The leader was man called Memphis and I knew he was there for me.


	2. Chapter 2

Memphis had been eyeballing me as soon as I entered the Atomic Wrangler but I hadn't paid him much attention because I wanted to speak to James Garrett before I dealt with him. Unfortunately Memphis wasn't in the mood for waiting. The tall man stood and laconically made his way over to my seat at the bar with his posse following. Like most in his line of work Memphis looked like a cowboy from the sarsaparilla adverts but unlike most in his line of work Memphis was pretty on the level. Sure he'd hunt you down with all the intensity, and none of the finesse, of a rabid Deathclaw if you crossed him but he was on the level. The problem most people had with Memphis came when they confused his civility with weakness.

The tall cowboy moseyed up, leant on the bar beside me and tipped his hat at Jessica.

"Ma'am, Sorry to interrupt your evenin' but I need to borrow Jay here." He said politely but in a tone that suggested his intrusion wasn't up for discussion. I looked at the half empty glass of whiskey and quickly drained it, I would need it.

"Wait here, I'll only be a moment."

"Good man Jay, Never have no trouble with you." Memphis said as he slapped me on the shoulder. He tried to keep his hand there but I shrugged it off, I knew where we heading.

#

When Memphis, his posse and me stepped onto the streets of Freeside the sun had almost completely set, only a dim halo remained behind the strip in the distance.

"How's business Jay? Picking up any?" Memphis asked as he walked me around a corner opposite the silver rush.

"Yeah Memphis. I'm rolling in caps, I don't pay debts cause I like your sparkling company. Can we get this over with, I got things to do."

"Ok Pardner, your call." Memphis said as we came to a stop in one of the more secluded regions of Freeside. "Red Lucy wants her caps or she wants you hurt. Do you have em?"

I pulled out the 250 caps Jessica had given me and handed them to Memphis. He quickly counted the caps and clicked his tongue. "That'll go some way but I still gotta lay hands on ya, Red Lucy said you been gettin' off light, sets a bad example."

I shrugged and tried to look calm while Memphis pulled on a pair of knuckle dusters and adopted a boxing stance.

"Ya'll ready."

I took a deep breath, braced for impact and nodded.

#

When I came to a few seconds later I was propped against a wall with Memphis waving a finger in front of my eyes.

"You ok, Jay? I hadda blood ya, Red wanted it."

"Yeah fine, no hard feelings." I muttered. I could feel blood running down my face from a wound above my right eye.

"You'll have a hell of a shiner but the women love it."

"You'd know."

Memphis laughed at the weak joke as I struggled to my feet and pulled out a cigarette. I offered Memphis one but he declined by pointing to the large cigar clenched between his teeth.

"Stay outta the Thorn till you get this squared with Lucy. Hopefully the next time you see me ya can buy me a beer." The Cowboy grinned.

"That would be a welcome change." I gingerly prodded the cut above my eye and wondered what the damage would be.

"Anyway Jay, I got other less trustworthy banditos to track down. Just lay off the gambling for a while and get the caps together." He slapped me on the back then set off towards Freeside.

#

I was feeling like sack of battered Brahmin crap by the time I made it back the Wrangler, of course it was just my luck Hadrian, the Ghoul comedian, was starting up his set. My arrival and condition didn't escape his rotten gaze.

"…and here comes Freeside's favourite resident Shamus. Looks like the date didn't go so well eh? That's a shame he was pretty too!"

I wasn't in the mood so I dropped my hand to .44 Magnum on my hip and left it there while glaring at the ghoul.

"Yeesh! Tough crowd!" Hadrian said before moving on with his set.

Back at the bar James Garrett had appeared and was speaking to Jessica, she was leaning back on the stool in an effort to create distance but Garrett just leaned closer, he seemed to have that repellent affect on women. I returned to my seat and Jessica let out a gasp when she saw my eye.

"What happened? Are you alright?"

"Yeah fine." I said to her. "Hey Garrett, get me a cloth and a stimpak." James turned and started rummaging behind the bar. "A clean cloth." I clarified after seeing him reach for the rag he wiped the bar down with.

"That man seemed nice, did he do this to you?"

"Yep and he is nice, it's just his job is nasty."

Jessica scooted her bar stool closer to mine and lowered her voice. "This guy is very strange, do you think he can help us?"

"Yes and yes." I said quickly as James returned. I tended to my wounds while speaking to him. Garrett was a good source of information because he was often sober around drunks and drunks can't hold their tongues, he also had something to hide which meant I had him by the balls.

"I want information about a package. A very expensive package that's gonna be part of some deal going down in Vegas."

"I don't know anything about…"

"Do we have to do this everytime?"

"Do what?"

I sighed and decided to try a different tactic.

"I found the FISTO." I didn't whisper it but in the noisy bar it was unlikely anyone heard me speak and if they did very few would know what a FISTO was. Still it startled Garrett and he told me to hush up.

"I don't know what you talking about." He said eying Jessica.

"Tell me about the package deal and I'll tell you where to get the… thing."

Garret's beady eyes darted from my face to Jessica's for a few seconds before he finally spoke.

"Ok, Ok. Caleb said he heard about something from Orris. He was taking an out-of-towner up to the strip. He said he was in town for some kind of auction."

"Did he say anything else? Like the dimensions of the package?" Jessica asked a little excitedly.

"Don't know about that you'd have to ask Caleb or Orris."

"How'd you know it's the right auction?" I asked

"I don't but it's all I got, besides how many mysterious package auctions can there be?"

"Good for you that I don't believe in coincidences." I stood up and made a move for the door, Jessica quickly followed.

"Hey! What about my information?" Garret called out.

"Cerulean Robotics, but I ain't going to pick it up. Get some other deviant to help."

#

Orris was one of the many Body Guards operating in the Freeside area, the whole industry was sham designed to screw tourists before they even got onto the strip, a real New Vegas hello. The truth was Freeside was a pretty safe place, sure there where the addicts on the street corners but if you could make it through the wastes to Vegas odds where you could handle yourself or all ready had protection. The Guards were really little more than status symbols for the paranoid.

Orris was a little different though he was relatively new to the Body Guard game but had carved out a remarkable business for himself in a few short months. Of course I knew he did this by staging gunfights to make himself look more capable. I had worked this out by keeping an eye on him for a couple of days but the break only came when I noticed he never bought ammo for his revolver. Instead he always used shells of his own creation which I was able to get my hands on after sweet talking one of the girls at the Wrangler. The bullets were blanks and he wasn't even shooting the usual junkie trash, just his accomplices. The man was more full of shit than Supermutant after a Brahmin sandwich. I wouldn't have too much trouble finding out what he knew.

Or that's what I thought.


End file.
